Densho Digital Archive - Fumi Hayashi Interview (denshovh-hfumi-01-0005)

<Begin Segment 5>

KP: What was your junior high school like?

FH: I went to Washington Irving Junior High, and it was called "Little Alcatraz." [Laughs]

RP: Why?

FH: Because it sat on the... it was there, near Eagle Rock on Fletcher Hill Drive or Road or whatever that was, and it stand on a knoll, and it looked like Alcatraz because the building was... it was a, I think they put the boards up and they poured concrete and then they put the boards, took the boards off. It wasn't built. It was poured on, so it had that concrete look.

RP: Like a fortress?

FH: Yeah, and so they called it "Little Alcatraz." I don't know if they do -- if the school is there -- I don't know if they ever... but that's the, where I went to junior high. Three years, I guess. Six -- no, seven, eight, nine.

RP: So what kind of student were you?

FH: Just a student, going to school, doing what I had to do, what I supposed to be doing. I just went to school, be with my friends, I think. And ate lunch.

RP: Did your family have much of a social life outside of work?

FH: No, not very much.

RP: You did mention about trips to Little Tokyo.

FH: That was when I was a little girl.

RP: What do you remember about those trips?

FH: I thought it was pretty neat. It was a neat, Japantown was really neat, and we, you knew when you got in Japantown. There's a streetcar go cling clanging down the street, but in the background they had, I don't know if they had such a thing like... they must've had amplifier. The whole street had Japanese music going on. You felt like you were going into a different country or somethin' and you could hear that music down the street and music up here, and there're all Japanese walkin' around. It was kinda neat. It's not like that anymore, but of course it's America now. America. But as a little girl I remember that. It was a neat little town. And I understand it's... they're wondering if it's gonna exist, because although there are shops and malls and whatever comes up, they're all going close to wherever they live, I guess, that owns the shops. But when you wanted anything Japanese you had to go to Japantown. It was really neat. Like the kids say now, it was cool.